Pokémon cancels event at controversial Japanese shrine following Chinese backlash

The Pokémon Company apologised for posting an event notice on its website stating the event "should not have been held to begin with".

The card game event was due to be held at the Yasukuni Shrine, near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

The Yasukuni Shrine honours Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals.

Countries that were targets of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as showing a lack of remorse about Japan's wartime past.

Pokémon said that the event has been cancelled and its information removed from the website.

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"It was an event that should not have been held to begin with," it said, adding that the notice was shared on its website "by mistake because of the lack of our understanding."

"After the incident was discovered, the event was promptly cancelled.

"We sincerely apologise for the various reactions and opinions that have been generated as a result of this publication."

It said it would "thoroughly review and strengthen" its approval process to prevent this from happening again.

The mistake comes amid the worsening of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, due to the new Japanese Prime Minister's stance on Taiwan.

Sanae Takaichi said in November that Japan would respond with its own defence force if China attacked Taiwan.

Chinese state-run media company Global Times has praised Chinese "net­izens" for their criticism of the event, adding: "Any enter­tain­ment or leis­ure activ­it­ies held at such a site con­sti­tute an open affront to his­tor­ical truth, and sta­ging events aimed at children there is even more egre­gious."